California Pulse


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    Barnes & Thornburg Unveils New Management Committee

    Barnes & Thornburg LLP has announced its 2025-2026 management committee, with Andrew Detherage remaining the firm's managing partner and an Indianapolis-based partner joining the committee as an at-large member.

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    DLA Piper IP Pro Moves To Womble Bond In Silicon Valley

    Womble Bond Dickinson has hired a DLA Piper partner to bolster its national intellectual property litigation practice and its life sciences presence on the West Coast, the firm said Wednesday.

  • Calif. Judge OKs $1.3M Deal Over Houser LLP Data Breach

    A California federal judge on Oct. 31 signed off on final approval of a $1.3 million settlement and $351,000 in attorney fees in a class action against business litigation firm Houser LLP over a 2023 data breach.

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    Visa, Con Ed Among Leaders In Political Disclosure Rankings

    Despite geopolitical pressures — or perhaps because of them — more companies than ever are agreeing to follow robust transparency policies related to their political spending, according to a new study.

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    Jones Day Hires Ex-Coinbase Associate GC In San Diego

    Jones Day has added to its San Diego cybersecurity practice a former member of Coinbase's commercial litigation team, the firm announced.

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    Commerce Dept. Atty Joins Holland & Knight's Trade Team

    A senior counsel at the U.S. Department of Commerce has joined Holland & Knight LLP's international trade group as a partner, the latest in a string of former government officials to join the firm's ranks in the past several months.

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    Mid-Law's Big Leap: The Rise Of The 'Super Mid-Market' Firm

    As consolidation pressure mounts, some Mid-Law firms have bulked up to BigLaw scale without moving away from their focus on midsized clients, with this so-called "super mid-market" tier of firms likely to keep expanding.

  • Fired E-Biz Execs Sue Jackson Walker Over Judge's Romance

    A pair of former executives at e-commerce company Volusion LLC have hit Jackson Walker LLP with the latest in a series of suits accusing the firm of legal malpractice stemming from the undisclosed romance between a former partner and a Texas bankruptcy judge.

  • Senate Confirms Jones Day Partner To 9th Circ. Bench

    The Senate voted 52-45 on Wednesday to confirm Eric Tung, a partner at Jones Day, as a judge on the Ninth Circuit.

  • Robbins Geller's 'Eye-Watering' $28M Fee Bid Cut To $10.4M

    A California federal judge has rejected a $28 million attorney fee request from Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd as part of a $150 million investor settlement with Zoom, calling it an "eye-watering figure," and saying the firm can collect about $10.4 million instead.

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    Corporate Atty Returns To Baker Botts From VC Fund In Calif.

    Baker Botts LLP is growing its corporate team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing back a venture capital expert most recently with BRV Capital Management as a partner in its Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto, California.

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    BakerHostetler Lands Knobbe Martens IP Trio In California

    BakerHostetler continues expanding its West Coast team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing in three Knobbe Martens intellectual property attorneys as partners in its Los Angeles and Orange County offices.

  • Judge DQs Levi & Korsinsky Over 'False Press Releases'

    A California federal judge disqualified Levi & Korsinsky from serving as lead counsel in a proposed investor class action after finding that the firm issued press releases to attract clients with headlines stating it had filed certain suits when in fact, the firm hadn't actually filed those cases.

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    Lagasse Branch Grows With 15 Attys From Boutique In Calif.

    California firm Lagasse Branch Bell & Kinkead LLP is expanding its ranks by almost a third, adding 15 attorneys from the boutique formerly known as Bradley Gmelich & Wellerstein LLP, including one of its name partners, according to an announcement Tuesday.

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    Pierson Ferdinand Adds 6 More Partners In US, London

    Fast-growing Pierson Ferdinand LLP has announced that the firm added six new partners in five U.S. markets and in its London office during the month of October.

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    Which GCs Sold Stock In October? Apple, Strategy And More

    Three top legal officers at tech companies in California, a Washington, D.C., suburb and Austin, Texas, hauled in big stock scores last month.

  • Littler Adds Veteran In-House Atty From Amazon In California

    Employment and labor law firm Littler Mendelson PC has expanded its offerings in San Francisco with a veteran in-house attorney who most recently spent over eight years at Amazon.

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    Haynes Boone Hires First Chief Talent Officer

    Haynes Boone announced this week that it has hired its first chief talent officer to steer attorney development and recruiting efforts as the firm continues to grow and change its senior leadership structure.

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    Wilson Elser Picks Up 6-Atty Team In LA From Booth

    Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP announced Tuesday that it has hired a six-attorney team from the now-shuttered Booth LLP in Los Angeles, including that firm's former managing partner.

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    Dechert Requiring 4 Days In Office For Some Attys, All Staff

    Dechert LLP joined a growing list of BigLaw firms increasing their office attendance requirements, rolling out a new policy requiring rising second-year associates and all nonattorney business professionals to work in person four days a week beginning next year.   

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    Ruli.ai Raises $6M In Seed Funding, Hires Ex-Pinterest GC

    Amid the current race to invest in artificial intelligence-powered legal technology, legal intelligence platform Ruli.ai announced Tuesday that it has raised $6 million in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $8 million in a little more than a year.

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    Boies Schiller Adds 2 Attys From Herrick Feinstein, Disney

    Boies Schiller Flexner LLP this week announced two prominent hires — a Herrick Feinstein LLP attorney with a history of working on multibillion-dollar restructurings and a firm alum from The Walt Disney Co. who brings experience in copyright matters and artificial intelligence.

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    Calif. Prop 65 Expert Joins Carlton Fields In Los Angeles

    Carlton Fields announced Monday that an experienced defense litigator who focuses on California's Proposition 65 matters has joined the firm's Los Angeles office from Steptoe LLP.

  • New Loan Forgiveness Rule Targets Trump Critics, States Say

    Two lawsuits filed Monday, one by a coalition of states and the other by a group of cities, unions and advocacy organizations, are challenging a new Trump administration rule imposing "intentionally vague" and allegedly illegal restrictions on student loan forgiveness for public employees intended to stifle dissent.

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    Goodwin Requiring 4 Days In Office, But Removes Tracker

    Goodwin Procter LLP will stop using certain technology to monitor in-office attendance while joining a growing list of BigLaw firms requiring U.S. attorneys to work in person at least four days a week, according to a memo obtained by Law360 Pulse.  

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Expert Analysis

  • Series

    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Librarian Author Photo

    Lisa A. Goodman at Texas A&M University shares how she went from a BigLaw associate who liked to hang out in the firm's law library to director of a law library herself in just over a decade, and provides considerations for anyone interested in pursuing a law librarian career.

  • Legal Briefs Can Benefit From Cleaned Up Case Citations Author Photo

    Federal courts have recently been changing the way they quote decisions to omit insignificant details and string cites, and lawyers should consider adopting this practice to enhance the readability of their briefs — as long as accuracy stays top of mind, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law.

  • 5 Best Practices For Firms Designing DEI Programs Author Photo

    Nikki Lewis Simon, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Greenberg Traurig, discusses best practices — and some pitfalls to avoid — for law firms looking to build programs aimed at driving inclusion in the workplace.

  • Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs Author Photo

    Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.

  • Ask A Mentor: How Do I Juggle Billables And Other Activities? Author Photo

    While involvement in internal firm initiatives can be rewarding both personally and professionally, associates' billable time requirements don’t leave much room for other work, meaning they must develop strategies to ensure they’re meeting all of their commitments while remaining balanced, says Melanie Webber at Fisher Phillips.

  • Making Legal Cents: How To Adapt As Clients Tighten Budgets Author Photo

    Amid a dip in corporate legal spending and client pushback on bills, Shireen Hilal at Maior Consultants highlights specific in-house counsel frustrations and explains how firms can provide customized legal advice with costs that are supported by undeniable value.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents Author Photo

    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • General Counsel And Legal Ops Must Work Together Author Photo

    It is critical for general counsel to ensure that a legal operations leader is viewed not only as a peer, but as a strategic leader for the organization, and there are several actionable ways general counsel can not only become more involved, but help champion legal operations teams and set them up for success, says Mary O'Carroll at Ironclad.

  • How Generative AI's Growing Memory Affects Lawyers Author Photo

    A new ChatGPT feature that can remember user information across different conversations has broad implications for attorneys, whose most pressing questions for the AI tool are usually based on specific, and large, datasets, says legal tech adviser Eric Wall.

  • A Model For Optimal Legal Tech Investment Strategy Author Photo

    Legal organizations struggling to work out the right technology investment strategy may benefit from using a matrix for legal department efficiency that is based on an understanding of where workloads belong, according to the basic functions and priorities of a corporate legal team, says Sylvain Magdinier at Integreon.

  • Series

    My Nonpracticing Law Job: Recruiter Author Photo

    Self-proclaimed "Lawyer Doula" Danielle Thompson at Major Lindsey shares how she went from Columbia Law School graduate and BigLaw employment associate to a career in legal recruiting — and discovered a passion for advocacy along the way.

  • Series

    Ask A Mentor: How Do I Balance Social Activism With My Job? Author Photo

    Corporate attorneys pursuing social justice causes outside of work should consider eight guidelines for finding equilibrium between their beliefs and their professional duties and reputation, say Diedrick Graham, Debra Friedman and Simeon Brier at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Personality Tests And Machine Learning Applications In Law Author Photo

    Mateusz Kulesza at McDonnell Boehnen looks at potential applications of personality testing based on machine learning techniques for law firms, and the implications this shift could have for lawyers, firms and judges, including how it could make the work of judges and other legal decision-makers much more difficult.

  • AI Is Reshaping Lawyering: What To Expect In 2024 Author Photo

    The future of lawyering is not about the wholesale replacement of attorneys by artificial intelligence, but as AI handles more of the routine legal work, the role of lawyers will evolve to be more strategic, requiring the development of competencies beyond traditional legal skills, says Colin Levy at Malbek.

  • Embrace Active Voice In Legal Writing — In Most Cases Author Photo

    Legal writers should strive to craft sentences in the active voice to promote brevity and avoid ambiguities that can spark litigation, but writing in the passive voice is sometimes appropriate — when it's a moral choice and not a grammatical failure, says Diana Simon at the University of Arizona's James E. Rogers College of Law.

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